A Sunday Thought About How to Bring Back Beauty
From time to time we've referenced the loss of beauty in our culture and its replacement by a culture that ranges from the stupid and banal to the outright offensive and vulgar. Almost six months ago, we noted:
Many of us who know and love the treasures of Holy Mother Church understand, appreciate, and are inspired by the unsurpassed beauty of the liturgy of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass which in turn inspired so much of great painting, sculpture and music of the West until the modern era took center stage in the 20th century. I've always thought that a longing to restore the Extraordinary Form to pride of place also contained a belief that doing so might lead to a renaissance of great art. Here we see that belief expressed in an article posted on Father Z's website, well worth a read. The article references Summorum Pontificum, the papal document issued by Pope (now Emeritus) Benedict that allows the free use of the Extraordinary Form once again in the Latin Church.
What's important to understand is that our wonderful Pope Emeritus Benedict did a great service not only to Catholics who have a "preference" for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, but - without exaggeration - for the entire world. It's really important for us all to understand this, not only to give credit where it's due in the measure in which it's due, but also because a restoration and appreciation of real beauty is part and parcel of any restoration of sanity and civilized behavior in an increasingly mad and barbarian culture. We should all pray for this restoration if not for ourselves, then at least for our children. Those of us who have either perpetrated, fostered, cooperated with, or silently witnessed the decline of a once great Christian civilization owe at least that much to them.
( Read the rest of this fascinating article, along with Father Z's excellent comments, HERE.)
We've all got a key to a fabulous treasure chest. Since the day Our Lord established His Church when He handed St Peter the Keys to the Kingdom and told His Apostles to bring the Good News to the whole world, our Holy Catholic Church has changed the world. In the course of evangelizing the world, many of the common and ordinary things of this world were turned to rich treasures that we can enjoy any time we choose. Sadly, few of us choose to do so anymore.What we didn't talk about then was that, while the treasure chest still exists, you've got to look harder for it these days, partly because a chest filled with cheap and tawdry trinkets has replaced it in many quarters. A few minutes of listening to what passes as music as Mass these days (at least in the Novus Ordo masses I've attended) provides a good example of this.
Many of us who know and love the treasures of Holy Mother Church understand, appreciate, and are inspired by the unsurpassed beauty of the liturgy of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass which in turn inspired so much of great painting, sculpture and music of the West until the modern era took center stage in the 20th century. I've always thought that a longing to restore the Extraordinary Form to pride of place also contained a belief that doing so might lead to a renaissance of great art. Here we see that belief expressed in an article posted on Father Z's website, well worth a read. The article references Summorum Pontificum, the papal document issued by Pope (now Emeritus) Benedict that allows the free use of the Extraordinary Form once again in the Latin Church.
"...(Pope Benedict) did a great service for culture and the arts, for the whole world - even for nonbelievers...Luckily, the maligned and misunderstood Pope Benedict made this generous gesture to embattled Latin Massers seven years ago. It has empowered a movement in the church that will bring back beauty not only to the sanctuary, but to the whole world as well."
( Read the rest of this fascinating article, along with Father Z's excellent comments, HERE.)
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